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“Control now.”
“Yes, but Davis is right. The press will manipulate anything we give them. And by reacting to this new threat, I’m allowing us to be manipulated. I’m going to take a step back and slow down.”
“Meaning what?”
“We’re not going to do an interview.”
“Won’t that keep them chasing your staff?”
“I’ll make the staff’s time worthwhile.”
“That doesn’t mean they won’t talk,” I remind him.
“I’ll take my chances. We’re not going to meet with the press. We’re not going to hide. We’re going to go back to our normal lives, and as I know well from high profile cases, they’re here today and gone tomorrow. This too shall pass.”
I wrap my arms around him. “But we won’t.”
“No, baby.” He cups my head. “We won’t.” He kisses me. “Why don’t we go take a look at your new office?”
“Yes, please.”
A few minutes later, we’re just down the hall from his office, and I’m presented with a gorgeous personal space already decorated with a beautiful mahogany desk, double bookshelves, and a sitting area with brown and light blue furnishings. “I love it,” I say, standing in the center. “Now I need to earn it.” I glance at my watch. “I’m supposed to meet Kevin in HR at noon.”
He shuts the door and crosses to set my briefcase on my desk. “About Kevin.” He turns to face me.
“You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t know him, but I don’t have to look at Eric’s list on possible traitors to know he’ll be on it.”
“I believe he’s one of the good guys. He is nothing like Ri. He is someone we want here on our team but,” my hand settles on his chest, “I can put him on hold.”
“No. Don’t. You trust him. I trust you. Just be careful.” He kisses me. “And I’ll leave you to work your magic. I’m going to put out about a million fires. You know where to find me.” He heads for the door and I rotate to watch him reach for the knob, and God, the man is the definition of power and masculine perfection. He is everything and more, and in this moment, I remember the past, I remember how easily I let his power and money define us. I let myself feel replaceable and that was all on me. Grayson never ever made me feel such things.
“Grayson.”
He turns and looks at me and when this man looks at me, his eyes soften and warmth radiates between us. “Yeah, baby?”
I close the space between us and wrap my arms around him. “I’m really glad to be back here with you.”
His hand comes down on the back of my head and his forehead presses to mine. “You have no idea how happy I am that you’re back.”
His voice is low, rough, affected again, and it’s a powerful feeling to know that you affect a man like Grayson Bennett. Despite how far we have come, I’m still trembling with the knowledge that I have that power, with the knowledge that together we have that power. He strokes my hair. “I’ll show you how happy tonight.” He leans in and kisses my neck and then burns me alive with the heat in his stare.
He starts to turn and I catch his arm, wiping my lipstick off his mouth. “You never choose the right shade for your coloring.”
He smiles and winks before he exits my office, leaving me with his words: just be careful. He trusts me. He trusts me fully and guilt spikes in me over the past. I should have trusted him that fully. I’m not going to let him down again and I know he knows that, but I wonder if Eric and Davis, his closest friends, really know. Eric did suggest I’d be a target because our breakup makes us look weak. But we are not weak and no one will hurt Grayson through me again.
I hope they do target me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mia
The past…
I’m trembling as I follow my new boss, Kevin Murphy, into his office. The trembling is ridiculous and the idea of going to work for Ri is killing me, but my father and his gambling debt really left me with no option. I need the signing bonus and I’m not going to go to Grayson for money. He might have turned his back on me for another woman, but I will not be the money-grabber who goes to my billionaire ex for money. I won’t do it.
“Have a seat,” he says, shutting his door and motioning me toward a small round conference table, which is a bit surprising. I’d expect him to sit behind his desk in his big corner office and act above me like Ri.
I claim my seat and set my briefcase on the floor beside me. He sits down across from me. He’s a good-looking man with artistic features and dark wavy hair. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome really, but I notice in almost a sterile way—an attorney sizing up someone she’s about to face off with, not a woman sizing up a man. He’s not Grayson. I don’t know if I will ever react to anyone again. Right now, it feels as if I will not.
